Solar Updraft Tower Project

In this project, we designed a small scale model of a solar updraft tower. Our design was based upon previous renderings for solar updraft towers in Spain and Arizona. The purpose of our small scale solar updraft tower was twofold: 1) to prove the theory behind the solar updraft tower is plausible and 2) to produce enough energy to charge a battery storage system. The battery storage system would be used as a backup for fault conditions in our Smart Grid system. Our main objectives were to find optimal dimensions and materials to construct our solar updraft tower, all within the constraints of a budget. Our goal was to use what we’ve learned through design and testing to expand the knowledge of solar updraft towers.